When it comes to PSHE, taking a blanket “one size fits all” approach is never going to be the best way to meet the needs of your cohort.
In any other subject, you would tailor what you teach to the gaps in students’ knowledge and understanding - and PSHE should be no different.
The aim of PSHE is to equip students with the skills and confidence to live happy and successful lives. To do this, we must ensure that our curriculum - and the wellbeing support and policies that surround it - are relevant to student needs and the local context.
At Penrice, we achieve this by drawing on student-specific data and statistics, which we use to inform and tailor our ever-evolving PSHE curriculum.
We’re a large school, with a typical yearly intake of approximately 300 students, so this data is crucial to helping us deliver a customised offering.
So, how does the approach work?
Data-driven PSHE
We prioritise data that captures the voice of our student population, rather than relying purely on country-wide statistics, which, while useful, won’t always reflect the regionally specific factors or issues impacting our students.
We regularly use student-voice data, gathered through surveys, and pastoral data from behaviour reports to inform lesson content, especially when we know that we need to react to incidents affecting our community.
We do use national data, but as a way of comparing our community with the wider picture and making sense of, for example, how different our students’ lives are from those living in inner cities.
Using school-specific information means our students know that their curriculum has not been made up or taken from a handbook for students elsewhere, but is connected to them.
We explicitly tell our students that the anonymous student-voice information they provide us with in surveys helps us to tailor the curriculum. Involving students in this way comes with the added benefit of helping to make them more invested in their education.
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As part of our approach, this year, our students will be participating in NHS England’s Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use 2023 survey. The biannual survey aims to gather an accurate picture of the current prevalence, trends and attitudes towards smoking, drinking and drug use among students in Years 7-11 across England.
In addition to providing participating schools with a report that highlights whether overall levels of smoking, drinking and drug use in their school are higher or lower than the national average, the survey also serves as the main source of information for government departments, local authorities and charities on young people’s behaviours regarding smoking, drinking and drug use.
The survey plays an essential role in informing health and education policy - as well as offering valuable information to schools about current trends.
For example, nationally, there are growing concerns about the use of vapes, so we recently introduced lessons about vaping. These are currently aimed primarily at Year 9 because school data from pastoral and behaviour reports highlighted high vape use for this age group.
However, the findings of the NHS survey will provide us with a clearer picture, allowing us to adapt our provision further.
The benefits of using data to tailor your PSHE curriculum cannot be overstated. If you are looking to introduce a similar approach at your school, the following points of advice should help.
1. Prioritise specific data
There are plenty of free and accessible resources available to help you gather relevant information. Remember to look to external expert organisations beyond the education sector, such as NHS England.
Prioritise information that is specific to your students and their experiences. While national data is useful for trends, it won’t always give a very detailed or accurate picture - which can be essential to tailoring lessons and support.
Participating in localised opportunities can be much more helpful.
2. Get students on board
Students must understand why and how they are being asked to complete something, so it’s imperative to impress upon them that this is an opportunity for their voices to be heard.
Taking part in our student-voice survey is optional; if a student decides not to take part, they can say so in the first question. We also make it clear that all the information they give will be anonymous.
As well as making sure that students understand why they are being asked to take part, you also need to make it easy for them to do so. Barriers such as IT issues will only help to reduce participation.
3. Include parents
It’s essential that parents are included and made aware of the potential benefits of the data and information-capturing processes.
Bring them with you on the journey and show them how the information collected has influenced the curriculum or policies.
For any survey we carry out, we send a letter to parents and carers, giving them the opportunity to remove their child from the process.
Aimee Stevens is head of culture, life and societies studies at Penrice Academy in Cornwall
